Numerous attempts have been made to fabricate penetration resistant fabrics with supple, flexible, bendable, twistable, and tactile characteristics. The cut, shear, slash, puncture, and pierce resistant fabric of this invention accomplishes each of these necessary goals. A further advantage of this invention is that it is readily adaptable for use in conjunction with conventional liquid barriers. An additional advantage of this fabric is that it can be constructed using breathable materials to increase wearer comfort, especially during extended periods of use of protective garments made from the inventive fabric.
An especially effective and highly desirable use for this fabric is for protective gloves, aprons, sleeves, footwear, and other garments. Gloves and garments constructed from the fabric of this invention find use in the medical industry where a high level of tactility is required such as gloves for surgical use. The fabric is also useful for sports people and outdoors people engaged in fishing, hunting, and similar activities. Gloves and garments constructed from the fabric of this invention are useful for protecting the wearer from industrial injuries in factories, on construction sites, in solid waste handling facilities, and in other such hazardous environments.
Due to the rising numbers of wounds from knives and other cutting instruments, there is a strong demand for an effective and user-comfortable protective barrier against these body cutting, shearing, slashing, and piercing weapons. Furthermore, public safety personnel (police officers, fire fighters, paramedics, and first responders) who must physically examine a person, a corpse, clothing, or other objects are in great need of protection from sharp objects, which might possibly be contaminated with a life-threatening to infectious organism.
Currently available, breathable protective gloves and body armor are generally of a knit or woven construction. Knit or woven construction provides minimal protection against blade cutting, such as knives. It provides even less protection against abrasive or serrated instruments, such as serrated knives, saw blades, jagged metal, or glass. And, it provides virtually no protection against puncture or piercing.
Non-porous and, therefore, non-breathing synthetics constitute the construction of some currently available protective gloves and body armor.
Such synthetics include aramids, such as Kevlar®, and polyethylenes, such as Spectra®. Such synthetics may be effective at stopping body-piercing projectiles, such as bullets, but are ineffective at resisting wounds from knives or other sharp or jagged edged objects. Such synthetics are also uncomfortable, since they prevent evaporation of perspiration from the wearer's skin.
Another advantage of the fabric of this invention is that it (i) provides dependable resistance to penetration, while (ii) allowing ease of movement due to its characteristic flexibility, bendability, and twistability, and (iii) optionally can be fabricated of breathable materials to allow evaporation of perspiration. Alternately, the fabric can be fabricated of liquid barrier materials.